St. Louis Vacation - the City Museum

I first visited the City Museum in downtown St. Louis on a business trip last December. We did a team building event there, and I assumed that we were going to a mundane museum. Wow, was I wrong! This place is remarkable and almost impossible to describe. I attempted to describe it to Matt, but I obviously didn't come close to doing it justice because it was not at all what he had expected. Here's an excerpt from their website (www.citymuseum.org), which doesn't quite do it justice but does a better job than I can of describing it.

Housed in the 600,000 square-foot former International Shoe Company, the museum is an eclectic mixture of children’s playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects. The brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur, the museum opened for visitors in 1997 to the riotous approval of young and old alike. Cassilly and his longtime crew of 20 artisans have constructed the museum from the very stuff of the city; and, as a result, it has urban roots deeper than any other institutions’. Reaching no farther than municipal borders for its reclaimed building materials, City Museum boasts features such as old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile, and even two abandoned planes! “City Museum makes you want to know,” says Cassilly. “The point is not to learn every fact, but to say, ‘Wow, that’s wonderful.’ And if it’s wonderful, it’s worth preserving.”

The museum is filled with tunnels, caves, and slides.  Clara was on full throttle running from one thing to the next.  She'd say, "Let's go exploring!"  Matt did most of the exploring with her because I had hurt my back that morning and wasn't moving around very well.  I'm hard pressed to say who enjoyed it the most - Matt or Clara, but I think it was probably Matt.  Clara is pretty lucky to have a Daddy who is more than happy to explore, tunnel, and slide right along with her.

I had no idea Clara was so brave, but she was fearless when following her Daddy through some of the tunnels including some that were very high off the ground and down a 10 story spiral slide.  I did not go down the slide this time, but I did go down the slide during my trip in December while wearing a suit and high heels!!

Clara & Matt climbed up to the airplane on the right which is probably two stories off the ground.  
Then they climbed through the arch-shaped wire tunnel in the middle of the picture. 
I was not aware this was going on and gasped when I found out!

Clara exiting a two-story slide inside the museum.

Avery did not share our enthusiasm for the museum.  She's not old enough to climb through the tunnels and go down the slides.  An indoor waterfall spooked her early on, and she was clinging to me most of the time we were there.  I'd ask her if she wanted down, and she's just hold tighter to me.  She's not much of a snuggler (except with her Bompa) so I was eating it up.  My $12 admission was well worth the money for all the snuggles I got out of it!  She relaxed towards the end of our visit and then she was hard to contain.

If you have an opportunity to visit the City Museum, I would highly recommend it.  I'm looking forward to a return visit when the girls are older.